The crew of a seized cargo ship who have been stranded on board the vessel for more than six months would be allowed to leave Taiwan this week, the Maritime and Port Bureau said on Sunday.
The announcement came after the bureau on Sept. 8 applied with a local court to appoint a ship manager for the vessel.
The court on Tuesday last week ruled that the ship’s Taiwanese contractor should appoint a manager within 10 days, after which the crew would be allowed to leave the country.
Photo courtesy of the Maritime and Port Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications
The Belize-registered Uniprofit ran aground near Taitung County’s Fugang Fishing Port (富岡漁港) on March 8 and was towed to Kaohsiung Harbor, where it has remained due to a debt the ship owner owes to a Taiwanese towing company.
The Kaohsiung District Court has approved an application by the contractor to provisionally seize the ship after its owner failed to pay the NT$20 million (US$637,959) refloating cost.
The ship’s 16 crew members were not allowed to leave the vessel and their daily necessities had to be provided by ship chandlers.
The ship has also been banned from leaving Taiwan before a settlement is reached between the vessel’s owner and the towing company.
Crew members have since June hung white banners from the vessel demanding the payment of unpaid wages and that they be allowed to return home.
On Saturday, the ship’s Chinese captain, surnamed Yang (楊), disembarked with his luggage, reportedly after a quarrel with other crew members, but was detained by police.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office ordered him to return to the vessel.
Four crew members are legally required to stay on board a ship subject to provisional seizure, with the remaining crew allowed to leave Taiwan within 24 hours.
However, the ship’s 11 Chinese and five Indonesian crew members have been unable to decide who should remain on board.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the